Some very big news for British philosophy. From 1st September there will be a new philosophy research centre at Aberdeen founded by Crispin Wright. Its provisional name is the Northern Institute of Philosophy. The centre will have the following remit (with areas of envisaged mid-term focus in brackets):

Philosophy of Mind (the metaphysics and epistemology of the self, rationality and rational explanation)

History of Analytical Philosophy, and its methods, scope and limits

A number of appointments are planned, including 2-3 Institute professors and 6 quarter-time professorial fellows. There will also be funded PhD places and postdoc positions, as well as funding for networks and workshops.

This week I’ve been running a competition for the best Twitter tweet-length philosophical argument (that’s 140 characters or less), with the prize being kudos, respect and TAR airtime for the top tweet. It’s been so much fun reading the entries that I’m now sad it’s over. There were 72 entries in total (and of course, I made my decision on idiosyncratic grounds such that nobody should feel offended in any way by not winning).

I think the winner has to be Mark Steen (@marksteen), for making this great point with 57 characters to spare:

Ordinary objects are mereological sums. Objects can change parts, so sums can too.

I decided early on, given the nature of many of the entries, that I needed a separate category for comedy value, and in fact ended up with a number of other “special awards”. I’ve put the full list of PSAT awards and the full list of entries online. Enjoy!